Shirley Kim Bonnani gave birth on a hill in a sled during a snowstorm this week. Now that Bella Sung-Ah Sofia Bonanni is happy and healthy, here's the story of how she was born.

Just hours after a massive snow storm dumped more than a foot of snow on Philadelphia this week, Shirley Kim Bonnani woke up in labor with her second child.

Her first birth took more than twenty hours, so she hopped in the shower and called her in-laws to come watch her son. She lives in a private development in the hilly Roxborough section of the city. It hadn't been plowed yet. Temperatures were in the single digits with wind chills pushing below zero. Interviewed here are Shirley, who gave birth in a sled; George Leader, a neighbor and archeology professor who assisted the birth; and Ryan Gee, a photographer who witnessed the action.

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Shirley Kim Bonnani: We had an ice storm two weeks prior in which our car slid downhill. My husband bought two sleds the day before the snowstorm, just in case we couldn't get to the car. The sleds were in our driveway, and my husband had intentionally parked the car outside our development since our street was a steep hill.

My reaction was, No way in hell. He stubbornly bought the sleds anyway. My second reaction was still, No way in hell. In hindsight, he was right.

George Leader: The night before was all the snow. If you don't have four-wheel drive, you can't get up the hill.

Shirley: After I got out of the shower, my contractions were suddenly almost back-to-back when it was seven to ten minutes apart prior to that.

We were leaving our house, and I could barely get down the steps because I felt like the baby was coming right then. So my husband grabbed the sled from our driveway and plopped me down in it and started pulling me downhill, since he managed to get our car halfway uphill.

Ryan Gee: It was maybe six in the morning. I hear screaming outside. I thought it was my son for a second. I heard it again. I'm thinking, Is it kids? No way. It's dark out. I see this black outline of someone out there, screaming again. Is this person lost, screaming? I thought, An old lady, delirious, lost in the snow?

George: I was in bed. I heard screaming coming out from the street below. I looked outside, I saw a woman on her back, a couple of people around her. I thought she had fallen on the ice. I luckily put on some slippers and ran out to see if I could help her. Sure enough, she was going into labor right there.

Shirley: My screaming drew out neighbors in my development and within minutes — felt like seconds — the baby was born. My husband caught the baby, a neighbor handed him a blanket, and he ran the baby back upto our house and cranked the heat up to keep the baby warm.

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George: He [Fabian Bonnani, the father] sat there at her feet. I was on the phone with 911 right next to him. In a matter of two minutes time, the baby came out. It was really quick between the time she took her clothes off and the time the baby came.

Shirley: Someone else had dialed 911 first and handed my husband the phone. Then, when he saw the baby was crowning, he handed the phone off and really with no instructions he delivered the baby. People were all shouting things but he didn't hear any of it because he was full of adrenaline.

George: I had never been present for a birth.

Ryan: I see the father run by me with a baby [at my front door]. His wife is still screaming. There's three or four other neighbors out there. I stood where I was, shell-shocked.

George: It was, with the windchill, I think they said like minus-fifteen. I didn't have any gloves, any socks. We were shaking. The mother was shaking. As soon as the baby came out, we wrapped it in the blanket.

ESQ: Fabian broke the umbilical cord with his hands?

Shirley: Yes! He knew he had to get the baby to warmth and the only way was to break the umbilical cord.

George: I was right next to him. I can't recall seeing it happen, but we were running, and I thought, He just broke that thing with his hands. Once I ran to his house, the baby started crying. The 911 operator says, "Stay with them." They didn't realize the cord was cut. They kept saying, "Is the cord cut?"

We needed muscle here. I grabbed a couple of my roommates. I said, "Put on some shoes. We need to carry this lady. I just delivered a baby." They think I'm crazy. We all grab a corner of the mother's sled.

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Shirley: I met them the first time that day.

George: The father and mother are absolute champs.

Ryan: The husband, he comes walking back, and he has blood on his pants. I'm like, "Is the baby okay?" He's like, "Yes, thank you."

George: He was awesome. He was clearly in absolute work mode. It was like, This is happening. We're going to do this. I'm sure he was terrified, but he did well not to show it.

Ryan: He was chill. He was running around, but he wasn't screaming or anything.

Shirley: He was surprisingly super calm. However, two hours later, when we were at the hospital, the adrenaline wore off. So he was like, "What the hell happened?"

He's normally calm and focused and practical, hence him buying sleds the day before.

George: It was one of those rectangular green plastic sleds. That's what we carried her into the house on — people on the ends and the sides. We eventually got her in. She was still on the sled in the living room until [the paramedics] got to her with a stretcher

ESQ: Just to double-check, the name of your daughter is Bella Sung-Ah Sofia Bonanni. What was her weight? You also have a two-year-old son?

Shirley: That's correct she was born at 7 lbs., 9 oz., 20 inches. My son Logan is two.

Ryan: The guys down the street, they deserve all the credit.

George: It still plays over and over again in my head. It was just strictly actions of neighbors helping a neighbor. Everyone throws the word hero around. I went out to lend a hand. It's a great story. But ultimately, all that matters is that everyone's OK.

Shirley: It all seems surreal still, like, Wow, I really had a baby in a sled outside!

ESQ: I liked the headline in the Philadelphia Daily News: "Flexible Crier." Heard any good puns?

Shirley: I've been reading comments to posts and some people had some good ones. Like they should name their kid "Rosebud." Or "Bob" if it was a boy.

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